Roosevelt, Accepting American Hebrew Medal, Stresses Religious Freedom

“The national conviction that every man has an inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience” was reiterated today by President Roosevelt as he was presented by General Hugh S. Johnson with The American Hebrew Medal for Promotion of Better Understanding Between Christian and Jew in America.

“I am proud to receive this award,” the President said. “I like the broad spirit of good will which prompts the bestowal. I like also to think that no matter how diverse, conflicting and mutually contradictory our views may be on a number of questions and policies — there remains one issue upon which we are in complete accord. Embodied in the Federal Constitution and ingrained in our hearts and souls is the national conviction that every man has the inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.

“After all, the majority of Americans, whether they adhere to the ancient teaching of Israel or accept the tenets of the Christian religion, have a common source and inspiration in the Old Testament. In a spirit of brotherhood we should, therefore, seek to emphasize all those many essential things in which we find unity in our common Biblical heritage. If we labor in that spirit, may we not hope to attain the ideal put forth by the prophet Micah: ‘What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with thy God?’

General Johnson, in making the presentation, said: “Jews, Catholics and Protestants, your political followers and those who disagree with you, had no hesitation in making the award. It represents their conviction that you have done more than any man to reconcile the silly differences of these separate but kindred faiths to universal brotherhood in fear and love of God.” Joseph H. Biben, publisher of The American Hebrew, was another speaker.

President Roosevelt’s Purim message, which he has sent to the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregation, states: “Every festival which commemorates a milestone in the long and hard-fought struggle to achieve human freedom should appeal to all lovers of liberty. The struggle, which is symbolized in the defeat of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews in the reign of King Ahasuerus, is one which has been waged without ceasing in all the centuries that have followed. And now, more than ever, we realize that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.